252 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
infrequently in the rough, marshy meadows rising up to 
the high moors opposite Ingleborough. In cultivation 
one has to be very careful lest it show the coarse habit 
and the plebeian greed of the Dog-Violet. 
To deal completely now with the race. I will own 
that for dry places in the garden I think no Violet (as 
distinct from Pansy-violas) beats our native hirta at its 
best—a stalwart clump, producing an _ extraordinary 
abundance of contemporary blossoms, very large, scent- 
less, and of a rich clear blue. I do not think the leafy 
American cucullata approaches this, nor stricta, Rydbergi, 
Sorora, nor any other of the fancy Violets that my man- 
ager so piously cherishes. ‘To my taste these are all 
weeds, variant on canina. Sorora has big blue flowers 
and a good deal of leafage; the same applies to Rydbergi 
and cucullata; striata is rank and very leafy, with abun- 
dance of small creamy-white flowers; and the blue 
Violets all have white varieties—except hirta, so far as I 
know. ‘This almost certainly has one too, only nobody 
has troubled to discover it. The best I can find to say 
for these coarse rampageous Violets is that they will 
thrive anywhere and make unobtrusive masses in any cool, 
good soil. Hirta, on the other hand, is tidy and neat in 
growth, sparing of leaves, and loves well-drained, rather 
dry positions, in woodland or open ground. 
The last Violet I have to mention I call upon with 
lamentation. I have never been able to get hold of it, 
for all the enthusiasm it aroused in me. It was in the 
wood above the Temple-Tomb of Iyesyasu Tokugawa at 
Nikko. Between the vast columnar trunks of those 
secular Cryptomerias the setting sun cast arrows of gold 
on the dappled green carpet of herbage round their feet. 
The trees themselves were fired to ruddy sanguine, 
great scarlet pillars of a huge cathedral. And here and 
there on the ground there shone a wonderful Violet, fired 
